Nearly 17-foot python caught in Florida Everglades is largest of the year

A monster 16-foot, 10-inch python caught in the Florida Everglades by a snake hunter is the largest captured this season, the South Florida Water Management District says.

The massive snake was caught this week by Dusty “The Wildman” Crum, one of 25 snake hunters working with the water district in this year’s python elimination program.

“Biggest snake I ever caught in my life,” Crum told reporters.

Crum, who is an orchid grower in Myakka City when not hunting invasive snakes, said capturing the huge reptile was difficult. “It’s like Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan, WrestleMania!,” he told WFOR-TV in Miami.

As of Tuesday, 79 pythons have been caught and killed in the water district’s program. Curm’s nearly 17-footer was the largest caught since the program started in March, but was hardly the only big snake taken.

Crum seems to be the snake charmer among the hunters. On April 25, he caught the 50th Burmese python in the program. In a weigh-in broadcast live on Facebook, that snake measured 14-feet, 6 inches.

The water district’s governing board approved this year’s pilot python program, which offers snake hunters for captures. “The program will give participants unprecedented access to SFWMD lands in an effort to remove these destructive snakes, which have become an apex predator in the Everglades,” the district said on its website.

For his big catch this week, he earned $375. To its hunters, the water district is paying $50 for pythons up to 4 feet, and an extra $25 for each foot over 4 feet

Crum also told WFOR that taking out this one massive snake also takes possible offspring from the Everglades. “When people say they are only catching one or two snakes, why are they not catching more snakes?” Crum said. “Well we are making the difference by taking the eggs out of the eco system.”